"It’s about the emptiness of fame, Princess Carolyn!" BoJack shouts, nursing a scotch. "It’s high art!"
On the night of the premiere, BoJack sits in his mansion, surrounded by "friends" he barely knows. The title card flashes: The BoJack Horseman Show .
"So..." BoJack says, his voice cracking. "We're thinking Season 2 is where it really finds its feet, right?" [S3E2] The BoJack Horseman Show
BoJack tries to fight it, but the lure of a "hit" is too strong. He lets them add a wacky neighbor. He lets them add a laugh track. By the time they reach tape night, the show is a bloated, nonsensical mess of toilet humor and forced cynicism.
Fresh off the legacy of Horsin' Around , BoJack is desperate to be seen as a "serious artist." He has teamed up with Cuddlywhiskers, a Harvard-educated neurotic, to create something edgy, avant-garde, and profoundly depressing. The original pilot is a black-and-white existential nightmare where BoJack stares into a mirror for twenty minutes. "It’s about the emptiness of fame, Princess Carolyn
Princess Carolyn checks her Blackberry. "The reviews are in, BoJack. One critic called it 'the end of television.' Another just posted a picture of a dumpster fire."
As the credits roll to the sound of a synthesized fart, the room is deafeningly quiet. He lets them add a laugh track
"BoJack, honey," Princess Carolyn sighs, her eyes darting between her ringing phones. "The network doesn't want high art. They want the horse who says 'Whaaaat?' and slips on a banana peel. We need to find a middle ground before they pull the plug."